I have found it increasingly difficult over the years to maintain civil discourse with believing Latter-day Saints and with theists in general.
I’m not entirely sure whether that is something I should be embarrassed about—or something I should be proud of.
This video explores a difficult question: Should we be bridge builders, or should we recognize that some bridges deserve to be burned?
I’ve been told many times that my rhetoric is too harsh, too abrasive, and that I get too much into people’s faces online. I’ve been called toxic, hateful, arrogant, and just about every other name in the book.
But here is the issue: religious believers want their ideas to be taken seriously. Yet many religious claims are ultimately claims about invisible deities, supernatural beings, miracles, spirits, and forces that have never been demonstrated to exist.
At what point does respecting a person become confused with respecting their beliefs?
Carl Sagan explored this problem in The Demon-Haunted World, warning about the dangers of accepting extraordinary claims without sufficient evidence. Daniel Dennett likewise confronted the difficulty of challenging beliefs that people deeply identify with.
I understand that religious beliefs can be deeply meaningful. I also understand that criticizing those beliefs can feel deeply personal.
But sincerity is not evidence.
For years, I have asked believers a relatively simple question:
On what basis should I accept your claims about a supernatural realm inhabited by angels, demons, gods, and spirits?
What evidence separates those claims from the countless other supernatural beliefs humans have held throughout history?
So far, I have not heard anything remotely convincing.
I used to believe these things myself. I spent decades inside the worldview I now criticize. I understand the arguments because I once made many of them myself.
And that is why I believe what many believers need is not more reassurance. They need a serious examination of whether their beliefs are actually supported by evidence.
I respect people who are willing to admit uncertainty. I respect people who follow evidence wherever it leads.
But I do not believe unsupported supernatural claims deserve automatic respect simply because they are sincerely held.
Ideas do not deserve immunity from examination because they are old, popular, sacred, or deeply meaningful to someone.
Civil discourse has value. But civil discourse does not mean silence. It does not mean pretending every idea deserves equal treatment. And it does not mean politely accepting claims that have no evidentiary foundation.
Sometimes bridges are worth building.
Sometimes bridges are worth crossing.
And sometimes bridges should simply be burned.
This isn't about destroying people.
It's about challenging ideas.
And if an idea cannot survive honest questions, criticism, and evidence, then perhaps it was never a bridge worth saving in the first place.
#Mormonism #ExMormon #Atheism #Religion #CivilDiscourse #CriticalThinking #LatterDaySaints
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